Two candidates dropped out of the race to replace U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, leaving six lawmakers battling to lead a Conservative Party — and a country — hoping to move past months of scandal and division. Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and finance minister Nadhim Zahawi failed to reach the 30-vote threshold required in a secret ballot by conservative lawmakers to remain in the running. The remaining candidates will now try to rally the two men’s supporters in a contest to replace the flamboyant, scandal-mongering Johnson — a figure famous in Britain and around the world — with a new and much lesser-known prime minister. The vote confirmed the top spot of former finance minister Rishi Sunak, who came first with 88 votes. And it gave a big boost to Trade Secretary Penny Mordaunt, who secured 67 votes to come second. Secretary of State Liz Truss received 50 votes. Former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, MP Tom Tugendhat and Attorney General Suella Braverman also remain on the ballot. The 358 Tory MPs had crammed into a damp corridor in parliament on Wednesday afternoon to line up and vote in a large room hung with oil paintings. Security staff made them hand over their phones to ensure privacy. Further rounds of voting will be held on Thursday and, if necessary, next week, until only two candidates remain. The final two candidates will face a second round of voting by around 180,000 Conservative Party members across the country. The winner is scheduled to be announced on September 5 and will automatically become prime minister, without the need for a national election. Candidates are vying to replace Johnson, who resigned as Conservative leader last week amid a party upheaval sparked by months of ethics scandals. He will remain in office as caretaker prime minister until his replacement as party leader is chosen. Unlike Sunak and Truss, Mordaunt did not hold a senior position in Johnson’s government, although she was a junior minister. A well-liked politician from a military family, she is widely seen as a breath of fresh air and scores high in polls of party members. At the official launch of her election campaign on Wednesday, Mordaunt said the party had “standards and confidence to restore” after the scandal-tainted Johnson years. He said voters were “fed up with us not delivering, fed up with broken promises and fed up with divisive policies”. Truss supporters, meanwhile, are urging lawmakers on the party’s libertarian right wing — including supporters of Zahawi, Badenoch and Braverman — to rally around the foreign minister. Lawmaker Simon Clarke said this would “ensure there is a clear vision for the free market in the last two”. Neither Hunt nor Zahawi endorsed a candidate after dropping out of the race. Zahawi said “I do not intend to intervene further.” The list of candidates is strikingly diverse, with four candidates from ethnic minorities and four women. But all offer similar tax-cutting pledges, with only Sunak offering a note of caution. He has positioned himself as a candidate for fiscal probity, saying the country needs “honesty and accountability, not fairy tales” to weather the economic waves from the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Supporters of the other candidates incredibly portrayed Sunak — whose hero is former prime minister Margaret Thatcher — as a leftist. Johnson’s office has denied campaigning for the embattled Sunak, whose resignation last week helped end the prime minister’s reign. A spokeswoman insisted Johnson remained neutral in the campaign to choose his replacement. Johnson struck an admirable note at the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session in the House of Commons. He hinted it could be his last appearance there, although he is scheduled to ask questions again next week, before parliament’s summer recess, and leave office on September 6. “The next leader of my party can be voted in,” he told Labor leader Keir Starmer — though that would only happen if one of the two finalists dropped out. “So it’s possible this will be our last showdown.” Johnson said “it’s true I’m not leaving at a time of my choosing” but insisted: “I’ll be leaving soon with my head held high.”
